On February 23, 1945, Strank was given the order to climp up Mt. Suribachi and lay telephone wire to the top with three members of his rifle squad; Corporal Harlon Block, Private First Class Ira Hayes, and Private First Class Franklin Sousley. The four were joined about halfway up the mountain by Private First Class Rene Gagnon, who was delivering a large American flag to the summit to the officer in charge of the mountaintop with the instructions to replace a smaller flag which had been raised a few hours earlier. Upon reaching the summit, Strank took the flag from Gagnon, and gave it to LieutenantHarold Schrier, saying that "Colonel Johnson wants this big flag run up high so every son of a bitch on this whole cruddy island can see it." Strank, along with the aforementioned Marines and a Navy Corpsman, John Bradley, raised the second flag and flagstaff at the same time the first flag and flagstaff was being taken down. The photo of the second flag raising on Mt. Suribachi became the most famous photograph of World War II.

Michael Strank was born in Jarabina, a small Rusyn-inhabited village in Czecho-Slovakia (now in Slovakia). He was one of three sons of Vasil Strank (later, in the United States, known as Charles Strank) and Martha Grofikova, natives of the village. Vasil Strank moved to Franklin Borough (near Johnstown, Pennsylvania, United States), found work in the coal mines for the Bethlehem Steel Corporation, and brought his family to Pennsylvania three years later, when he could pay for their voyage. Strank attended the public schools of Franklin Borough and graduated from high school in 1937. He joined the Civilian Conservation Corps, served for 18 months, and afterwards became a Pennsylvania state highway laborer.

He returned to duty in San Diego and was assigned to Company E, Second Platoon, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, as a squad leader. He was sent to Hawaii with his unit after extensive training, and began more training and preparation for the invasion of Iwo Jima. He took part in the amphibious landing on Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945. On February 23, Mt. Suribachi was captured after heavy fighting the day before, and an American flag was raised. Once the mountaintop was secured, Stank and three of his squad members were ordered to climb and lay communications wire up to the top of Mt. Suribachi. Once on top, he was instructed by the officer in charge to raise a second and larger replacement flag attached to a pipe, so that the US flag could be seen more easily seen at greater distance. While doing this he, his three squad members, and two others, were photographed in mid-action. This photo was later titled Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, and has since become the most copied photograph in history. In March, three of the six flag-raisers in the photograph, including Strank, had been killed in action. They died never knowing the impact the photograph would have.

Strank and his rifle company moved northward after the flag raising(s). Fighting was heavy, and both the Japanese and the American forces were taking heavy casualties. On March 1, his rifle sqaud came under heavy fire and took cover. While forming a plan of attack, he was killed by friendly artillery fire. The shell that killed him was almost certainly fired from offshore by an American ship. Cpl. Harlon Block, the assistant squad leader, took command of the squad. Later that same day Block was killed by a Japanese mortar shell. However, Ralph Griffiths of Second Platoon, claims that Strank and Block who were on both sides of him on March 1, were killed by the same shell that wounded him.[1] Strank was buried in the 5th Marine Division Cemetery with the last rites of the Roman Catholic Church. He was the first person in the flag-raising photograph to be killed. On January 13, 1949, his remains were reinterred in Grave 7179, Section 12, Arlington National Cemetery.

Michael Strank's brother Peter Strank, served aboard the aircraft carrier USS Franklin in the North Pacific during World War II.

Strank was born on November 10, the Marine Corps birthday. The members of Sgt. Mike Strank's rifle squad idolized him, and many men since who served alongside him have stated he had a way of setting them at ease, making them feel that he could help them survive the war. Of the men photographed raising the second flag on Iwo Jima, Strank was the oldest and most experienced in combat. In interviews conducted years later, many documented in the book Flags of Our Fathers written by James Bradley, he is described by men who served with him as "a Marine's Marine", a true warrior and leader, who led his men by example. He often told his men, "Follow me, and I'll try to bring you all safely home to your mothers". One former Marine who served with Strank stated, "He was the kind of Marine you read about, the kind they make movies about". Cpl. Harlon Block idolized Strank, and followed his every instruction without question. L.B. Holly, who served in his squad and who was with him when he died, stated of Strank, "He was the best Marine I ever knew". Another[who?] said "He was the finest man I ever knew".

In 2008, Gunnery Sergeant Matt Blais, who was a Marine security guard in the American Embassy in Slovakia, discovered that Strank was not a natural-born U.S. citizen. Strank had become a U.S. citizen after his father's naturalization in 1935 but had never received official documentation.[3] GySgt. Blais petitioned the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services on Strank's behalf and on July 29, 2008, Strank's youngest sister, Mary Pero, was presented with his certificate of citizenship in a ceremony at the Marine Corps War Memorial.[3][4]